Kyle and her husband moved to Brookfield in 1986. She became active in local politics and started blogging in 2004. Her focus is primarily on local issues but often includes state and national topics, too. Kyle looks at things from the taxpayers' perspective in a creative, yet down to earth way, addressing them from a practical point of view.

Have you heard about this idea? Earth Hour- Give our planet a break. It is Saturday, March 28th from 8:30pm - 9:30pm. Everyone on the planet is supposed to turn out their lights for one hour, to relieve our planet of the burden of Global Warming! (By the way, Planet Earth is not a living being, nor is it our "Mother.")

Never mind that last year, Earth Hour actually produced more emissions than normal. Hour of no power increases emissions- "THIS Saturday, the World Wildlife Fund wants everybody on the
planet to switch off their lights for an hour in a 'global election
between Earth and global warming', where switching off the lights 'is a
vote for Earth'.": (My emphasis)

The efforts this Saturday certainly will be well-intentioned. Many of
us worry about global warming and would like to be part of the
solution. Unfortunately, this event - as with many public proposals on
climate change - is an entirely symbolic gesture that creates the
mistaken impression that there are easy, quick fixes to climate change.

...

The campaign doesn't ask anybody to do anything difficult, such as
coping without heating, airconditioning, telephones, the internet, hot
food or cold drinks. Conceivably, if you or I sat in our houses
watching television, with the heater and computer running, we could
claim we're part of an answer to global warming, so long as the lights
are switched off. The symbolism is almost perverse.

To put the energy saved by turning out the lights into world
consumption terms, "Even if a billion people turn off their lights this
Saturday, the
entire event will be equivalent to switching off China's emissions for
six short seconds." Now for the interesting part.

The Sunday Age reported last week: "An analysis of the key sponsors
of Earth Hour reveals that most have reported increased emissions in
their most recent figures."

And it gets worse: the event could cause higher overall pollution
than if we just left our lights on. When asked to extinguish
electricity, people turn to candlelight. Candles seem natural, but are
almost 100 times less efficient than incandescent light globes, and
more than 300 times less efficient than fluorescent lights. If you use
one candle for each extinguished globe, you're essentially not cutting
CO2 at all, and with two candles you'll emit more CO2. Moreover,
candles produce indoor air pollution 10 to 100 times the level of
pollution caused by all cars, industry and electricity production.

Never mind that reducing CO2 has little to do with earth temperatures. There is scientific evidence that increases in CO2 levels comes AFTER rising temperatures, not the other way around. If you disagree, then answer this: How did the earth ever come out of the Ice Age (warm up) without the internal combustion engine and power plants producing CO2?

The article also raises another issue that I have wondered about for a long time but never saw addressed: In the time before trains, jets, cars, incandescent lights, and gas heat--when everyone on the planet burned oil lamps and candles for lighting and made cooking fires and burned wood, peat, dung, or coal for heat--weren't we producing a lot more CO2 than our cleaner power plants and heating systems do today? Someday, I hope to read an explanation of that question.

I am OK with sending a message. I am also OK with symbolic gestures. But if you really want to portray what saving energy is all about, then turn off ALL of the power at your house and maybe send your utility company an extra $2 to symbolize the added Cap and Trade energy costs for that hour.

For those of you who don't agree with Earth Hour, how about "Human Achievement Hour"?

"We think Earth Hour, even if you are
super-concerned about global warming, is a little lame, and we are
making fun of it," said Eli Lehrer, a senior fellow at the Competitive
Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington, D.C., think tank that
supports limited government and decries global warming "alarmism."

CEI has announced a "Human Achievement Hour" to
counter Earth Hour. The group says millions of people will participate
by turning the lights on, going to a concert or seeing a movie. "It's
obviously tongue-in-cheek," Lehrer said.

Saturday night, my lights will stay on. I especially want to make sure the United States flag on my front lawn is well lit!

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